Although it had been said the Hot Shot would be based solely on Slam Dunk, It came out as a mixture of Slam Dunk and Dear Boys. Though Da Ying behaves like Sakuragi, Dong Fang Xiang is the combination of Rukawa and Fujiwara. He helps Da Ying train and even takes care of him. It is a feat that we havent seen Rukawa did, andit is something we would never see. Only Fujiwara helped Aikawa train.

I'd say it takes tons from slam dunk and add alot of it's own drama. Other similarities you guys forgot to mention:

-da ying vs fang xiang game. (fang xiang had to score 10 points to win and da ying had only to score once to win, which da ying won) taken from slam dunk, sakuragi vs akagi.
-da ying's ability to jump high (also one of sakuragi's strengths in slam dunk)
-da ying's "wall of blocking" (also one of sakuragi's original abilities early in the anime)
-da ying cleaning the basketball court (kind of like slam dunk, except sakuragi did it to join the basketball team)
-da ying's basic training of dribbling (sakuragi's first lesson which he did for weeks without getting to play)
-da ying's position is power forward and fang xiang is small forward (in slam dunk, sakuragi was also power forward and rukawa was small forward)
-da ying's reluctantness to pass to fang xiang (similar to sakuragi how he never wants to pass to rukawa)
-fang xiang's taunt makes da ying play better (similar to how ruwaka "wakes up" sakuragi after he gets pwned from the other team's players.

On another note, someone said shohoku wasn't the worst team. That was never really official but there was flashbacks of how the team was years before sakuragi and others join. There was one scene where players were talking about how easy it was to score over "200" against shohoku. It was never really official but shohoku was obviously somewhere on the bottom. Most teams really didn't expect them to do so well in the present.

I really hope they bring a mitsui character to the show but seems unlikely since they don't have an anzai-sensei character.

SLAM DUNK very much!!!!.. in the most basketball part... but about love.. its totally different sakuragi dont have a love triangle.. no one like sakuragi.. bsyd i havent watch the other choices than slam dunk..

da ying's way of learning is totally slam dunk.. like at first he dont know how to play basketball.. then he learn,, they will teach sakuragi.. then they will see a different skills that sakuragi has..and they will always bully da ying or sakuragi.. then he is really destined to be a player.. then the girl he likes makes him more confident then yuan da ting which is like rukawa... has the same pesonality... a guy who is knows the basketboll well then also a love triangle of sakuragi or da ying into the girl that jie er's same personality... but i dont know if jie er will fall for dong fang xiang... basta.. its totally da same.. but still good!!!!

I'd say it takes tons from slam dunk and add alot of it's own drama. Other similarities you guys forgot to mention:

-da ying vs fang xiang game. (fang xiang had to score 10 points to win and da ying had only to score once to win, which da ying won) taken from slam dunk, sakuragi vs akagi.
-da ying's ability to jump high (also one of sakuragi's strengths in slam dunk)
-da ying's "wall of blocking" (also one of sakuragi's original abilities early in the anime)
-da ying cleaning the basketball court (kind of like slam dunk, except sakuragi did it to join the basketball team)
-da ying's basic training of dribbling (sakuragi's first lesson which he did for weeks without getting to play)
-da ying's position is power forward and fang xiang is small forward (in slam dunk, sakuragi was also power forward and rukawa was small forward)
-da ying's reluctantness to pass to fang xiang (similar to sakuragi how he never wants to pass to rukawa)
-fang xiang's taunt makes da ying play better (similar to how ruwaka "wakes up" sakuragi after he gets pwned from the other team's players.

On another note, someone said shohoku wasn't the worst team. That was never really official but there was flashbacks of how the team was years before sakuragi and others join. There was one scene where players were talking about how easy it was to score over "200" against shohoku. It was never really official but shohoku was obviously somewhere on the bottom. Most teams really didn't expect them to do so well in the present.

I really hope they bring a mitsui character to the show but seems unlikely since they don't have an anzai-sensei character.

i completely agree and applaud you for all the points you made about Hot Shot's similarities w/Slam Dunk. I also agree that it has a lot of its own. I mean Slam Dunk's Rukawa wouln't even look at a girl twice while as DFX is so totally in love with Jie Er. and omg, a mitsui character would be so cool. I also want a miyagi and ayako characters.

Haha. I'm a Rukawa fan. I'm also a Jerry Yan fan. To see Jerry play as somewhat Rukawa character is so perfect! I love it that they even adapted Rukawa's fondness of sleeping. hehe. I think it's written in the stars for Jerry to take this role as Rukawa's given birthday is even the same as Jerry Yan's. haha